Agent Orange, a substance long forgotten by most Americans in this fast life of 2013 but the afterlife of such an encounter seems almost post Apocalyptic for those who survived the Vietnam War. There were 3 million Americans to survive the Vietnam War but to most their survival came at a cost.
On March 11, 2013, The American Cancer Society gave an updated medical review stating: "The US military used large amounts of mixtures known as defoliants, which are chemicals that cause the leaves to fall off plants. One of these defoliants was Agent Orange, and some troops were exposed to it. During the Vietnam War, US military forces sprayed millions of gallons of herbicides (plant-killing chemicals) on lands in Vietnam, Laos, and other nearby areas to remove forest cover, destroy crops, and clear vegetation from the perimeters of US bases. This effort, known as Operation Ranch Hand, lasted from 1962 to 1971. Exposures could have occurred when the chemicals were breathed in, ingested in contaminated food or drink, or absorbed through the skin. Exposure may have been possible through the eyes or through breaks in the skin, as well."
Marjorie Cohn, a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and former president of the National Lawyers Guild and Jeanne Mirer, a New York attorney and president of the International Association of Democratic Lawyer are both on the board of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign and are avidly distraught at the lack of responsibility the US is taking for the victims of agent orange. They state, "While this struggle continues, the three million surviving Vietnamese victims have received no such compensation or any humanitarian aid from the U.S. government. Nor have the children of the vast majority of U.S. veterans suffering from agent Orange-related birth defects received any medical assistance. The United States does not want to admit that its use of chemicals with poison as weapons of war on civilian populations violates the laws of war, which recognize the principle of distinction between military and civilian objects, requiring armies to avoid civilian targets. These laws of war are enshrined in the Hague Convention and the Nuremberg principles, and are codified in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Optional Protocol of 1977, as well as the International Criminal Court statute. Taxpayers pick up the tab of the Agent Orange Compensation fund for U.S. Veterans at a cost of 1.52 billion dollars a year. The chemical companies, most specifically Dow and Monsanto, which profited from the manufacture of Agent Orange, paid a pittance to settle the veterans' lawsuit to compensate them, as the unintended victims, for their Agent Orange-related illnesses. But the Vietnamese continue to suffer from these violations with almost no recognition, as do the offspring of Agent Orange-exposed U.S. veterans and Vietnamese-Americans."
While in Vietnam, the veterans were told not to worry, and were persuaded the chemical was harmless. After returning home, Vietnam veterans began to suspect their ill health or the instances of their wives having miscarriages or children born with birth defects might be related to Agent Orange and the other toxic herbicides to which they were exposed in Vietnam. Veterans began to file claims in 1977 to the Department of Veterans Affairs for disability payments for health care for conditions they believed were associated with exposure to Agent Orange, or more specifically, dioxin, but their claims were denied unless they could prove the condition began when they were in the service or within one year of their discharge. By April 1993, the Department of Veterans Affairs had only compensated 486 victims, although it had received disability claims from 39,419 soldiers who had been exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. Women had higher rates of miscarriage and stillbirths, as did livestock such as cattle, water buffalo, and pigs. Children in the areas where Agent Orange was used have been affected and have multiple health problems, including cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias, and extra fingers and toes. In the 1970s, high levels of dioxin were found in the breast milk of South Vietnamese women and in the blood of U.S. soldiers who had served in Vietnam. The most affected zones are the mountainous area along Truong Son (Long Mountains) and the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. The affected residents are living in substandard conditions with many genetic diseases.
Some studies showed that veterans who served in the South during the war have increased rates of cancer, and nerve, digestive, skin and respiratory disorders. Veterans from the south had higher rates of throat cancer, acute/chronic leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, prostate cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, soft tissue sarcoma and liver cancer.
Military personnel who loaded airplanes and helicopters used in Ranch Hand probably sustained some of the heaviest exposures. Members of the Army Chemical Corps, who stored and mixed herbicides and defoliated the perimeters of military bases, and mechanics who worked on the helicopters and planes, are also thought to have had some of the heaviest exposures.
Agent Orange and it's victims in most of today's Americans could be considered out of sight, out of mind. However, the lack of responsibility by the US government and the chemical companies involved is not something to turn a blind eye too. When war strikes again and the US citizens experience the backlash of war, can we count on the government to take care of it's people? We stand up for things to win our race of earning a place in the history books but the war isn't over for so many others. The victims of the Vietnam War and especially agent orange, will wage this war for the rest of their lives. When is war considered a success? What scenario/'s entice the US government to take responsibility for their own mistakes and what scenario's do not?
No comments:
Post a Comment